Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The Quiet Earth (1985)

Title: The Quiet Earth (1985)

Director: Geoff Murphy

Cast: Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge, Peter Smith

Review:

The Quiet Earth presents us with one of the quietest versions
of the apocalypse ever portrayed on film. Usually, in post apocalyptic films,
the end of the world comes via a nuclear bomb or a deadly virus…on The Quiet
Earth people simply blink out of existence. One day, Zac Hobson wakes up and
slowly discovers that apparently he is the last man on earth. The streets are
empty, not a soul in sight. Where the hell is everybody? Where have they all
dissapeared to? I'd seen this film before, but since Im currently conducting this huge post apocalyptic blog-a-thon, I decided to give it a re-watch. Plus, my good friend J.D. from Radiator Heaven suggested it on our 15 of the Apocalypse collaboration, which got me all pumped to watch it again. So, how did it fare?

When you watch the first few minutes of The Quiet Earth,
when the main character, Zac Hobson, first
wakes up naked on his bed and starts walking around town confronted by lonely
streets and abandoned cars; you might feel as if you were watching Danny Boyle’s
28 Days Later (2002); the similarities between both of these opening sequences
is staggering! There is no doubt in my mind that Danny Boyle borrowed heavily
from The Quiet Earth, at least for the opening sequence. I mean, we even get
the same kind of camera shots, same kind of situations. When we first meet Zac,
he is lying naked on his bed, same as Jim when he wakes up from his hospital
bed in 28 Days Later. They both wonder through the lonely city streets, filled
with empty cars, they both scream “Hello!” at nobody. They both end up meeting
a lady at some point. The difference between both films is that while 28 Days
Later is a film about a deadly virus that turns people into violent, blood
thirsty zombies, The Quiet Earth takes a more existential approach with it’s
story.

I love this kind of science fiction films because it takes
the opportunity to explore human behavior. It analyzes society. The main theme
in the film is humanities destructive capabilities and how we are always
looking for better and more effective ways of destroy ourselves. Now, those
familiar with history know what we humans are capable of doing to ourselves
when we start hating each other. In The Quiet Earth we meet Zac Hobson, a
scientist who’d been working -in collaboration with scientists from around the
world- in a new form of energy. Unfortunately, after he is in deep, he
discovers the awesome destructive capabilities of the project he is working on
(called Project Flashlight) and decides to not only stop working on it, but to
actually kill himself; which brings to mind all those scientists that worked on
constructing the Atomic Bomb. When we think about these guys, the question inevitably
arises: where were their collective consciences? Did they not feel guilt over
the fact that what they were making something that would go on to blink
thousands of lives out of existence? But this is just one of the themes that
The Quiet Earth addresses.

It also talks about government and how once they reach
power, and are engulfed by it, they act as mad men. We let them rule over us,
and they turn into mad men doing things we end up being ashamed of. For example
Zac soon comes to terms with the fact that he could very well be the last man
on earth. After a while, and during a time when he is mingling with insanity, he
decides that he will become “the president of this Quiet Earth” Why does he
crown himself president? As he speaks to cardboard cut outs of important
historical figures like The Pope, Hitler and Nixon (interesting how the
filmmakers placed them all one next to the other!) Zac mentions that we are at
the mercy of madmen, a very real statement when we take in considerations the
horrors that have been committed by politicians across history! Yes my friends,
this is a film that tells us that we are better off without politicians and
without religion. There is this amazing and extremely controversial scene in
which Zac enters a church and starts asking God to show up. “Where are you?” He
asks. Then, he threatens god by telling him that if he doesn’t show up, he is
going to blow away “the kid”, referring to a crucifix of Jesus. Since God doesn’t
show up, Zac proceeds to blow Jesus Christ away with a shotgun! And he proclaims
himself God! This film is saying, there is no God. If there was, he’d give a
damn. Instead, humans should realize they are the ones with the potential to
make their lives better.

Zac is "born again"

Another question this film asks is, what would you do if you
were The Last Man on Earth? If you felt no one was watching you? If you had no
government, no religion and no fellow man to judge you? For a while there, Zac
goes totally nuts. He looses it, becomes a drunkard, he feels like he wants to
destroy the world. These scenes reminded me of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend and
Vincent Price in The Last Man on Earth (1964) because we meet a man who walks
the earth alone, driven insane by loneliness. The film deals with this idea that we need
other humans and I agree, we do need our fellow man. We need the warmth we give
each other when we are at our best, when we forget all these petty differences
that often times tear us apart. War, patriotism, religious fanaticism, social
status, all these things do is separate us. What the film asks is: what if
these things were never around? What if we were all the same? Would this be a
better world? According to the film, it would be. What if the world wasn’t so
centered around making money? Around ‘being successful’? What if we could just enjoy
the world and its many beauties and treasures? Enjoying each others company and
making each other happy? Often times I think society as we know it is all
wrong. It isn’t about making us happy (though we do try) but upon making us
feel worse, trapped. Through the redundancy of our lives, the opportunity to
enjoy this world and the beauties it holds is taken from us. The film has these
beautiful scenes of humans simply enjoying each others company, having a
candlelit dinner, smiling, laughing, seeing the world. There’s a song by QUEEN
that says “this could be heaven for everyone”, and I totally agree. It could
be, but it isn’t heaven for everyone; because the way things are set up, this
earth is heaven only to the elitist, rich few, the minority. The one percent who want to rule of the other 99.

Last words on The Quiet Earth: this is a film that addresses
many important issues about life. It questions the status quo of things; it
questions politics, religion and the way we are. It questions our ideas about what
happens after death. It questions our violent natures. I thought it was
interesting how in this film, whenever a human encounters another they always
do so with a gun in their hands. Humans never seem to trust each other! The
Quiet Earth comes to us from director Geoff Murphy, the guy responsible for
Freejack (1992), another film that questions reality and social status. In
terms of direction, this film was interesting. First because filming all
those scenes involving empty city streets must have been a hell of a task that they
pulled it off brilliantly and secondly, constructing a film that centers for
the most part on one character (and later only on two more) must have been
difficult, but again, pulled off very well. To me the film was never boring
because it plays with so many important and thought provoking issues. In the
end, The Quiet Earth is a very rewarding science fiction film, the ending is
kind of abrupt, but it will keep you asking questions long after it is over;
like the best science fiction films.

4 comments:

Well said! I couldn't agree more. This is one the more cerebral sci-fi films and one that, as you rightly point out, asks a lot of questions and leaves it up to the viewer to figure them out on their own. Fantastic film.

This is true J.D., I loved that spaced out surreal ending, it kind of makes you think:

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

Were they in heaven? Were they in another dimension? Did humans really dissapear? I even got to thinking that maybe all humans where transported to some other planet or something!

But in all honesty, those last scenes in which Zac sees that planet with rings on it just makes me think that he traveled to a whole different planet...he kind of teleported else where at the moment of death. Pretty cool stuff, but as you said, ultimately, the answers are in each viewers heads.

i just watched it and new there would be links of fandom about the ending. i personally think that there isn't an answer, but plural meanings. the first thing that came into question as i debated semiotics with myself was that maybe they were in a parallel universe, a (string type) universe and the effect that damaged the earth shifted people on the brink of death to a parallel universe where the effects were catastrophic (that being said there would be a 'string' of alternate outcomes) and they happened to be in the one which the worst effects took place. the other thing i thought about was afterlife, mabye they were stuck inbetween earth and 'divine' paradise. as you know they were all about to die when they woke up without anyone insight. this theory was very difficult to accept though, considering im a passionate atheist, i don't know man. great film regardless of the intended meaning

All of your theories can be correct John, what the filmmakers did was leave it up to the viewer, I guess it all depends on the person watching.

I like you refuse the idea that its the afterlife they are stuck in, to me the machine wiped out all of humanity, or the three of them were transported to some alternate universe...the ending though makes me think that the main character was simply transported to another planet entirely! That alien landscape is what made me think about that possibility.